What is the biggest streaming live TV service?

Sling TV is the most popular streaming live TV service

Live streaming TV — cord-cutting, really — continues to gain in popularity. And the good news for consumers is that there are a lot of options out there. Sling TV remains the No. 1 streaming service, in terms of subscriber count. As of November 2018 it had some 2.37 million subscribers. What makes Sling so popular? Its main plans — Sling Orange and Sling Blue — start at just $25 a month each, or $40 a month if you want both of them. From there, you can add on various packages — sports, entertainment, international, etc. — and better control just how much you're spending. It's not quite a la carte TV (though that is one of Sling's slogans, but it's close.

No. 1

Sling TV remains the most popular of the streaming services, with some 2.37 million subscribers as of November 2018. It has two basic plans — Orange and Blue — that run $25 a month each (or $40 if you get them both) and a world of add-on packages.

No. 2

DirecTV Now is the streaming side of satellite giant DirecTV — both of which are owned by AT&T. DirecTV Now had 1.8 million subscribers as of October 2018. Plans start at $40 a month and range up to $75 a month.

No. 4

Full disclosure: We don't actually know how many subscribers YouTube TV has, because YouTube and Google don't tell us. (Estimates have put it anywhere from 800,000 to 1 million, anyway.) But it's still a great service, so long as it has the channels you need, and you don't rely on Amazon Fire TV as your hardware.

No. 5

PlayStation Vue — owned by Sony — also doesn't release specific numbers. But industry estimates have put it at somewhere around 500,000 or 600,000 — decidedly less than YouTube TV. And so it brings up the rear of our list.